Council, UL team to advance Environmental Product Declaration universe

Sources: U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Washington, D.C.; CP staff

USGBC and Underwriter Laboratories’ UL Environment have announced an industry-first partnership with targeted initiatives focused on increasing disclosure, awareness and transparency of building product composition and manufacturing processes.

The partners aim to accelerate market transformation and buildings’ overall quality and performance, beginning with creation of a joint Environmental Product Declaration. EPDs standardize the way products’ environmental impact are quantified, and provide a credit achievement path in LEED v4, the newest version of USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental rating system.

“This partnership will help businesses, individuals and project teams better understand the products they are including in their building projects, and have greater clarity about how those products can contribute to LEED credits,” says UL Environment and Information and Insights Business Unit President Sara Greenstein.

“Buyers are demanding to know the full extent of a productʼs environmental and health impacts. Transparency into the impacts of a product at each stage of its lifecycle has become a critical driver of purchases and specifications. Since this market is still evolving, and because the quality and consistency of data can vary greatly, we are working diligently to ensure that buyers and LEED users can trust that the information on which they rely is accurate, and that it complies with the new credit requirements.”